Weekly Reader: Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales by Stephen King; King's Short Stories are Just as Well Written as His Long Ones

Weekly Reader: Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales by Stephen King; King's Short Stories are Just as Well Written as His Long Ones


By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Stephen King's doorstopper novels are well known but he is just as noted for his shorter works. They can be just as scary and filled with terror and suspense as the longer works. Even though King describes himself as “more of a putter inner than a taker outer” never discount the shorter works as his anthology Everything's Eventual proves.

Everything's Eventual is filled with 14 short stories that are memorably creepy in how they explore various fears and how they affect the characters. The six best are:

1, “The Man in the Black Suit”- This story is a descriptive version of the whole “Stranger Danger” fear. Gary, an elderly man recalls an incident that occurred when he was a boy and encounters a sinister character that he believes is the Devil.

While the story isn't long on plot what really makes it is the description. Not many Readers will forget the sinister figure with his pale features, long black suit, long fingers,curled nails, and screechy voice using nursery room taunts to disturb the young boy.

The setting is also unforgettable as it starts off as a safe and secure space where Gary goes to fish and be alone with his thoughts but the Stranger's arrival fills him with such fear that he can never feel secure at that place ever again.

It isn't entirely clear whether the man really is Satan or a human child abductor/molester but either way this incident changes Gary forever. He managed to escape from the Stranger but never forgot him. Even as a dying old man, when he forgets the faces and names of friends and family members, Gary remembers every detail of that incident. As he lays dying, he is panic stricken that The Stranger will return for him when he's old, dying, and unable to defend himself.


2. “Everything's Eventual”-

This story is more science fiction than horror, but the fear is no less real. It plays on the paranoia of who is watching us and why.

Dinky Earnshaw is a young man with a smart mouth and an unusual talent. Whatever he draws comes true. When he was younger, a dog attacked him so he drew an image of the dog dying which it did.

After a disastrous encounter with his former boss, Dinky meets Mr. Sharpton, a mysterious man in a fancy suit. Sharpton wants to hire Dinky to write certain names and draw symbols and it will be done.

It is entertaining at first when Dinky uses his new found opportunity to receive sport cars and CD’s that have not yet been released. He receives so much money, that Dinky just tosses coins in a gutter. But things become tense when Dinky is ordered to write names down of “evil people” he is told. After doing some research, he learns that the people he wrote about mysteriously died and were not evil just rebels, activists, and political dissenters.

Much of the fear lies in the unknown that is never resolved. Who is Sharpton? Who is he really working for? Dinky's paranoia increases as he fears that he is being monitored and watched. He is able to turn his captivity around by his own unique way.


3. “The Little Sisters of Eluria”-

King's most ambitious world building project is his Dark Tower series. This story is an early adventure in the series (Thankfully for me, who hasn't read any of the books in the series.)

In this one cynical gunslinger, Roland is attacked by humanoid mutants in an abandoned village. He is awakened and nursed by a group of mysterious nuns. It doesn't take long for him to learn that the Sisters are really vampires and they feed on the humans that they heal.

This story is one half Gothic story one-half horror story. The Gothic elements come in the setting of a dark creepy abbey with the hidden passageways and the secrets shared by the people. There is also the innocent trapped inside who decides to aid the protagonist. In this case, the innocent is Sister Jenna, a novitiate who doesn't want to be one of them anymore.

The horror elements come from the plot of the human protagonist alone with an approaching horde of undead creatures. Roland has to rely on his strength, wit, and know how to survive his captivity. This time he also has help from a medallion which holds some unique powers.


4. “1408”-

As he did with The Shining, King visits the haunted hotel concept. This story is more tightly constrained but no less terrifying than its predecessor.

Mike Enslin, a horror writer is known for such works as Ten Scariest Haunted Houses, Ten Scariest Haunted Roads, etc. However, the skeptical writer has never actually seen a real haunting. While researching his latest book, Ten Scariest Haunted Hotels, he spends the night in a creepy hotel and insists that he sleep in the haunted room, 1408.

This story plays on superstitions by revealing that 1408 is listed on the 14th floor but is in reality the 13th. This is in reference to the common superstition that many buildings don't have a listed 13th floor. Also the room number 1,4,0,8 adds 13.

If the triskaidekaphobia doesn't get you, what's inside the room certainly will. Mike hears voices and footsteps. He sees faces in the walls and shadows. Also his tape recorder records messages that he never recorded saying that his friends and loved ones will die. The fear leads to intense violence as Mike is desperate to do anything to make the terror go away.

Mike survives his encounter but the true mark of any horror is how it affects the protagonist. Mike is left forever changed by the encounter. He can't sleep without a night light, still hears the voices in his mind, and never turns on the tape recorder for fear of what he might hear.


5. “The Road Virus Heads North”-

Remember the old story about the woman who loves jigsaw puzzles sees that the puzzle that she is solving reveals a picture of herself being killed by a mad man? This story is an update of that one.

Richard Kinnell, a horror writer (Maybe King is trying to tell us something.), is a collector of bizarre macabre artwork. At a yard sale, he buys a portrait of a tattooed punk-like man with long fangs and a hungry cannibalistic expression riding in a fancy sports car. Despite the warning from friends and his sweet aunt, Richard purchases the painting and mounts it on the wall. He watches in confusion as the expression on the man’s face changes and the background resembles the highway just outside of town.

Tension mounts when the picture shifts to the yard sale and the bloody corpses of the woman that Richard bought the portrait from. He learns on the radio that the woman was graphically murdered. The picture then changes to his aunt's house then his. Richard stares in fear as a car pulls up right outside his house.

Anyone who has sworn they have seen portraits staring at them or pictures change will relate to this frightening tale. It did a number on me. My Mom has a tapestry that is swirls of color around a black center. I swore the oval small center was larger and more circular. After reading this story, I thought that I saw faces in the tapestry. Luckily, it was only my imagination. Or was it?


6. “Riding the Bullet”-

This story is not only well written but is ground breaking for another reason. It was one of the first works that King released first online. When he released the story, over 400,000 copies were downloaded crashing the server. Since then, many of King's other works have been released online revealing that King knows how to adapt and reinvent himself to the modern Reader.

Luckily, this story is worth the publicity. Alan Parker, a university student, learns that his single mother is dying. He decided to hitch a ride to see her.

He accepts a ride from George Straub, a seemingly amiable but creepy man. Straub starts asking Alan weird questions and knows about his personal life.

Alan begins to think that he is riding with the Grim Reaper when Straub asks him who should die, him or his mother. Terrified, Alan makes his decision.

The story doesn't end the way Alan or the Reader expect. But what is truly haunting is neither the experience nor the aftermath. It is how we answered and the emotional repercussions that resonated from our answer.